Improvement in machines for heating untempered clay for bricks and tiles



' l. GREGG.

Brick Kum Patented May 19, '1863.l

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ISAAC GREGG, OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACIIINES FOR HEATING UNTEMPERED CLAY FOR BRICKS AND TILES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,580, dated May 19, 1863; antedated April 9, 1862.

To @ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, IsAAc GEEGG, ot' Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, haveinvented a new and useful improvement in machines for heating crude or untempered clay for making pressed bricks, tiles, or other articles made from compressed clay; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying iigures, making a part of this speciiication.

. Figure l is a longitudinal section, Fig. 2 a transverse section, of the machine.

The heating apparatus A, Figs. 2 and 1, consists of a cylindrical box, a, resembling an ordinary steam-boiler, and inclosin g a shaft with spiral b.

c is the grate.

rl and e are iiues.

fis the chimney.

The clay enters into the apparatus through the hopper g and passes slowly to the other end of the heater by the action of the spiral b, the latter receiving a slow revolving motion by a drivin g-pulley, h, or by any other usual means by which motion is communicatedpfrom thesteam-engine or other motive power used for operating the present machine. The clay, during its passage through the heater, is thoroughly heated. The heat generated on the grate c passes through the tlnes d, ascends in the iiues e e, and returns inside the heater and around the spiral to the chimney f, as indiv cated by arrows in Fig. 3.

t fi is a door or register in the end of the heater, through which the clay is discharged into the hopper 7c of the pressing apparatus.

The purpose of heatin g the clay previous to pressing it into the molds is to make it more soft and plastic, whereby the pressure required to press the clay into perfectly-developed brick, tiles, or other articles made trom compressed clay, may be considerably reduced. The heating of the clay has also the advantage that the brick, tiles, or other articles made from compressed clay, when coming out of the machine are nearly, if not quite, dry enough to be brought directly into the kiln for burning.

What I claim herein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The heating of crude or untempered clay preparatory to its being pressed into bricks, tiles, or other articles made of clay, by means of an apparatus, A, consisting of a cylindrical box, a, and spiral b, or their equivalents, coustructed and operated as described, substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth.

ISAAC GREGG.

Witnesses:

JNO. BARE, H. MOSER. 

